Cook The Ultimate Pizza On Your Barbecue

A recent survey found that pizza is the favorite food for 21% of Americans. This simple meal of a flat bread coated with sauce, cheese and a few toppings is easy to make and completely delicious. Cooking a homemade pizza on the barbecue will give it that delicious chargrilled taste, very similar to if it was cooked in an authentic woodfired pizza oven.

Preparing your dough

When you are preparing your dough, you should first make sure that your kitchen work surfaces are completely clean. Using a good antibacterial kitchen spray will help make sure that the area you are using is germ-free. You can buy pre-made dough in most large grocery stores. Alternatively you can make your own from all purpose flour, dried yeast, water, olive oil, salt and sugar. Roll your dough out on your work surface and then transfer it to a baking sheet to put your toppings on.

Tomato or BBQ?

There are two classic options for your barbecued pizza, a tomato, or a BBQ sauce base. A tomato sauce is simple, but should be rich and luxurious. A BBQ sauce is a little more complex, but is worth the effort. A tomato sauce works well with Italian ingredients, such as Milano salami, chopped mushrooms, Parma ham and Romano peppers. A BBQ sauce is perfect for American southern toppings, like Cajun chicken, sweetcorn and chopped bell peppers.

Tomato sauce ingredients

One 28 ounce carton of passata, or a 28 ounce can of tomatoes

1 tbsp of sugar

Salt, pepper and oregano to taste

Method

Put all of the ingredients in a small saucepan and cook on a low heat for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

BBQ sauce ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 small chopped onion

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 (28 ounce) can tomato sauce

3 tablespoons tomato paste

2 cloves of freshly minced garlic

1/4 cup honey

1/3 cup dark brown sugar

2 tablespoons molasses

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

Method

Firstly put your garlic, onions and olive oil in a saucepan on a medium heat. Cook these gently until they are soft – it should only take a few minutes. Add all your other ingredients and cook for around 30 minutes on a low heat, stirring occasionally. Your sauce should be rich and glossy.

What kind of cheese?

You don’t have to use cheese on your pizza, but if you do, make sure that the pieces aren’t cut too big. If you are using a classic Italian Mozzarella, drain off the liquid and cut it into tiny cubes. If you are using a harder cheese, grate it finely before spreading it over your pizza base.

Barbecue techniques

When you are cooking your pizza, there is no reason why you can’t put it straight onto the grill, by sliding it off your baking sheet. Your barbecue should be on a low heat. If you are using coals, rather than gas, then you should wait until the coal is glowing orange, but there are no visible flames.You will need to cover the pizza if you want to make sure that the toppings are going to cook properly. You can do this with a large pan, as long as you don’t roll out your dough too big. If your barbecue has a lid, then simply close this while your pizza is cooking. It should take around 10-12 minutes for the dough to be cooked on the inside and nice and crisp on the outside.

Using your barbecue to cook pizza will give it a delicious smokey taste. It will help your pizza get that perfectly crispy base – you’ll never want to put a pizza in your oven again.